Tropical Storm Odette Churns Off Mid-Atlantic | WeatherBug
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Tropical Storm Odette Churns Off Mid-Atlantic

September 18, 2021
UPDATED By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Andrew Rosenthal
Odette will race off to the northeast over the open Atlantic this weekend, posing no major threat to the U.S.

As of 11 a.m. EDT, Tropical Storm Odette was located near 38.5 N, 67.5 W, or about 235 miles southeast of Nantucket, Mass. and 460 miles south-southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia. With maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, it is a fairly weak tropical storm. Odette was moving to the northeast at 17 mph, and its minimum central pressure was 1002 mb, or 29.59 inches of mercury.

Odette formed from a tropical disturbance that has been spinning off the Eastern Seaboard since the beginning of the week. The disturbance made its way from the Bahamas toward the North Carolina Outer Banks over the past few days, feeding off the warm Gulf Stream to gain organization and intensity.

Its life as a tropical storm will be short-lived, as steering flow will push Odette to the northeast this weekend. This will direct it toward relatively-colder water, which will help the storm to lose tropical characteristics by the end of the weekend.

Aside from a little breeziness and increased cloud cover in New England, Odette should have very little impact on the East Coast weather. The same cannot be said for portions of Atlantic Canada, where Odette will bring heavy rainfall on the order of 2 to 4 inches and gusty winds of 40-50 mph to southeastern Newfoundland. The Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland is still recovering from being blasted by Hurricane Larry just a week ago.

Another disturbance in the central Atlantic is in the process of organizing. This one, several hundred miles from the Lesser Antilles, will likely become a tropical depression this weekend, and could be given the next name on the list, “Peter.”

The 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season has gone in fits-and-starts but has been overall active. After a very active start to the season, a period from July 9 to August 11 was completely devoid of storms. Since mid-August, the tropics have produced nine named storms, include major hurricanes Grace, Ida and Larry. A typical season over the last 10 to 15 years has the tropics ending around the “O”-named storm. Of course, there’s still at least another two-and-a-half months to go in the season.